Will France in turn be massively affected by the British variant of the coronavirus? While a few cases have been detected in recent days in Cholet and Roubaix, and that according to the scientific council the variant would represent a thousand contaminations this Wednesday, it is impossible to know precisely to what extent this variant, which is more contagious, is circulating. Especially since some PCR tests do not reveal it.
But at Laborizon Maine Anjou, a group of laboratories that carry out a large number of Covid tests in Sarthe (2,000 on Monday), the tests make it possible to identify positivity to the virus in all cases, whether it is the variant or the original strain, explains François Denis-Le Sève, biologist president of Laborizon. “What is certain is that the screening will be positive if the patient harbors this virus. On the other hand, the proper identification of this variant can be carried out on machines that we do not have at Le Mans.”
Positive tests sent to the Pasteur Institute to identify the variant
Thursday and Friday, all the positive Laborizon tests were sent to the Pasteur Institute so that it can determine whether they are due to the coronavirus or one of its variants. The results were not known Tuesday evening. The objective of this national operation is to obtain a photograph of the circulation of the virus in France.
Then Laborizon not being able to identify the variant, the group follows the recommendations of the government explains Sophie Chamin, general manager : “We ask patients the question ‘are you coming back from Great Britain or South Africa?’ and if so, and if the test is positive, then we send it to the national referral center which is able to sequence the RNA of the virus.”
Probably more tests to be done because of the variant
François Denis-Le Sève expects a sharp increase in the number of tests to be analyzed. “What can be a little worrying because of the contagiousness of the variant, is that we may have an increase in the tests to be carried out. But we are now armed to process large quantities compared to March 2020.“
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